


Hel Hath Nick Fury

by LadyShadowphyre



Series: Feelin' Hela Good [1]
Category: The Avengers (2012), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Darcy has no shame, F/M, Hel!Darcy, I give up, This got away from me, Thor is surprisingly tolerant
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-01
Updated: 2013-01-01
Packaged: 2017-11-23 05:17:15
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,771
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/618511
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyShadowphyre/pseuds/LadyShadowphyre
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Thor knows Darcy is more than she seems. So, apparently, does Nick Fury. When it comes to people she cares about Darcy isn't too fussed about having her secrets revealed.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hel Hath Nick Fury

**Author's Note:**

  * For [shineyma](https://archiveofourown.org/users/shineyma/gifts).



> Written for the AvengerKink prompt: [Thor Knows](http://avengerkink.livejournal.com/11065.html?thread=24144185#t24144185) I was watching _Thor_ this afternoon, and I noticed that when Thor's saying goodbye in the middle of the movie, he pauses before he says Darcy's name. "Jane Foster, Erik Selvig...Darcy."
> 
> It got me thinking--we've seen lots of Hel!Darcy, but usually it involves keeping everything secret from Thor, as he's a crappy uncle. So I'd like to see Darcy-as-Hel with Thor completely aware of it--he recognized her as soon as they got him from the hospital (he was pretty distracted when they first met) and goes along with the lie because he's a good uncle and he's very happy that she's no longer stuck in Helheim.
> 
> Anything with this would be good--a missing scene from the movie where the two of them talk, a reveal scene post-Avengers where everyone finds out about Darcy and Thor admits he already knew, whatever.

**T** HOR HUNG BACK, apart from his fellow warriors, as the agents of SHIELD came to collect his brother. A great enemy had been defeated, truly, but at what cost? The life of the Son of Coul, perhaps his brother's last shred of sanity.... Untold casualties from the battle itself.... There would be far-reaching consequences to this battle, this he could see now where once he might never have noticed or cared. To see his clever, winsome brother beaten and brought so low was... painful.

It reminded him too closely of other times when he had seen his brother vulnerable, broken. The day he was accused of cutting Sif's once-golden hair... the day he was commanded to "fix this problem you have set upon us" with that thrice-damned magical horse... worse still, each time Odin's pronouncement came that the children of Loki be taken and imprisoned.

Thor clenched his hand around Mjolnir's haft, jaw tight as he fought himself. He was not so adept as Loki at hiding his thoughts and emotions, though it was a skill he was learning rapidly the more he looked upon his father's - the All-Father's - actions regarding Loki and wondered anew to what purpose Loki was kept in shadows, for what reason were his children, whom any could see he loved, were tricked or taken from him. Answers, he knew, would not come willingly from the All-Father, but he had some thoughts as to how he might gain that knowledge regardless.

If only he had his brother's aide! Loki had always been the planner of the pair of them, finding ways to get them out of whatever mess Thor had wrought. The memories nearly made him smile, but his amusement was short-lived. He had considered, of course, that there was one person on Midgard whom he knew to have his brother's quick mind and quicksilver tongue, but gaining her aide... that, he knew, would be a delicate endeavor, no less because he had no wish to draw unwanted eyes - or Eyes - upon her when she had clearly evaded them successfully until now.

A hand touched his shoulder and he twitched, startled, but held himself in check with greater care than he once would have. Turning his head, he noticed that it was the Lady Natasha who had approached, and now looked at him with a careful expression of sympathy.

"Tony and Bruce are probably going to take a few days before they have something rigged to keep him secure when you take him back," she said quietly, and Thor noticed she spoke as if it was a foregone conclusion that Loki be returned to Asgard.

"They would do well to keep in mind that Loki's strength lies in his use of poisoned words as much as in his magic," Thor murmured, and he knew from the flicker of Lady Natasha's expression that she understood his silent apology for Loki's words to her on that flying ship belonging to the Man of Fury.

"If you want, I know most of Coulson's codes," she said after a moment. "You could visit Dr Foster before you leave... or we could bring her here."

The offer struck him as if it were a blow to the chest, and for a brief moment he was as winded as if he were mortal once again and being struck down by his dear Lady Jane's van. He had almost forgot that it had been the Son of Coul to send her to the secured location to protect her from his brother, and for a moment the desire to see her wars with his grief and sense of duty. He swallowed, forcing down the tightness in his chest, and shook his head.

"I would welcome the chance to see my Lady before I depart your Realm," he answered honestly. "Yet I fear there is another I must seek on Midgard, and haste will serve me best in that endeavor."

"I... will help, if I can," the Lady Natasha said, clearly confused and yet, for the moment, willing to offer aide. "For whom are you looking?"

"I seek--" _My niece_. He bit back the title, too conscious of the Eyes that might still be upon them. "A close friend of my Lady, and of Erik Selvig," he said instead. "Know you how I might find the Lady... Darcy Lewis?"

 

 **T** HE PROBLEM WITH CULVER UNIVERSITY, Darcy believed, was that it was so incredibly _boring_ after having lived and worked with flighty genius Dr Jane Foster. More over, it was... restrictive. It had been nice, really, being around people who didn't notice or care that one side of her body always ran colder than the other, or that she sometimes forgot to speak in English if she was tired enough. (She'd once had an entire conversation with Erik in Old Norse before the coffee had kicked in and she'd remembered what Realm she was in.)

Still, SHIELD had been polite but adamant that once her internship finished its course, she would have to return to Culver to graduate, so with fairly good grace she had done so, completing her major and defending her thesis on the political ramifications of anti-mutant legislation as compared to the Jim Crow laws of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and look how that had worked out, wake UP, people! If she happened to be motivated by an intense and personal dislike of anyone being discriminated against and subjugated for differences beyond their control, well, that was no one's business but hers, fuck you very much.

And SHIELD, apparently. She'd barely had the hard-won diploma in her hand before Agent iPod-Thief had been knocking at her door with a copy of her thesis and a job offer.

_"Let me get this straight. You want to hire me to wrangle your kooky science team while teaching Hitler-Puncher On Ice about the modern world AND learning the ropes to be your political liaison in DC."_

_"That is correct, Miss Lewis. In addition to your thesis, your actions in Puento Antiguo would indicate a unique suitability for the position, given proper training and experience."_

_"....You assholes had better not have let Jane starve herself while I was gone."_

And that was how Darcy had arrived at SHIELD's New York office for "Junior Agent Training". She knew she was being watched, sure, but it was significantly less hostile than previously watchful Eyes had been, and so she ignored them and focused on learning what SHIELD wanted to teach. Hand to hand, weapons training (though she'd flatly refused to give up carrying her taser), cryptography (Mother bless having All-Speak and a natural inclination towards being sneaky), Darcy learned. Around the time her training was coming to an end and she was due to start the Retrospective of Modern American History for the Temporally Displaced, she was called to meet with the Director of SHIELD for the first time since her arrival in New York.

She hadn't expected to find herself standing across a desk from Mr May 27th, 2009.

_"Please tell me you didn't decide to hire me because I was that fantastic of a lay."_

_"We do require our prospective employees to have more qualifications than that, Agent Lewis, and it seems that you have plenty of unique qualifications without your considerable skills in that area."_

_"Seriously, Boss-man, if you wanted to do it again, you just have to ask. And take me for coffee. We kinda skipped that part last time."_

_"I will keep that in mind. However, the purpose of this meeting is to discuss any other 'special qualifications' you may have that you might not want getting into the official paperwork."_

_"Yeah, speaking of that, can I go back and change my answer for retroactive consent in the case of sex pollen?"_

_"...I'll see what I can do."_

_"...Total confidentiality of whatever I disclose here?"_

_"You have my word, Agent Lewis."_

_"Call me Darcy. Or Hela."_

And that was how Director Nick Fury learned that the Queen of Helheim was on SHIELD's payroll. As far as Darcy could tell, the only thing that news had an effect on was that Director Fury - Nick - started studying Old Norse, and sent her personal notices written in Futhark, something that made Agent iPod-Thief (" _Coulson_ , Agent Lewis.") look just a little constipated whenever he saw them.

_"Hey, look on the bright side, Son of Coul, at least it isn't Stark."_

_"...Please tell me you never slept with Stark, Agent Lewis."_

_"I never slept with Stark, Agent Lewis."_

_"God save me...."_

And somehow, all of that eventually culminated in Darcy hauling Jane out of bed in New York in the middle of the night to catch a red-eye flight to Tromso, Norway, because of a phone call from her boyfriend saying her Mother was in town. Jane was grumpy, but settled when she was assured that her research would still continue. Darcy kept her taser on her at all times and waited tensely for Nick's call.

She wasn't expecting the call to come from Thor.

 

 **Y** OU DO KNOW THAT IT'S CONSIDERED GOOD ETIQUETTE TO CALL YOUR GIRLFRIEND WHEN YOU VISIT HER PLANET, right, Big Guy?"

Thor managed a smile - his niece had clearly inherited Loki's sharp tongue along with his quick wit - but time was of the essence and this was already going to be a difficult conversation. "I will most certainly call upon my Lady Jane, but I felt it imperative to speak with you first... Darcy," he said carefully. Steeling himself, he bowed his head to her projected image. "I would not have intruded upon your well-deserved privacy were the matter not so grave."

"...How grave?" she asked after a moment, her voice tense.

"Loki has led an army of Chitauri to Midgard," he said, daring to look up. He ignored the Black Widow's hiss as he stared into his niece's wide eyes. "They have been beaten back and my brother is in custody, but many lives have been lost this day, including the Son of Coul, and I fear for Loki's sanity."

"Phil's dead?" Darcy whispered, clearly shaken. Her mouth opened and closed for a moment, then she said, "Why are you calling me? Nick knows, he should have known I'd... that I wouldn't...!" She made a frustrated sound and scrubbed her hands over her face.

"The matter is only just concluded," Thor said, hoping to reassure her a little bit. She nodded, then her gaze moved to look over his shoulder.

"Quite a club you've joined," she said, then sighed. "This is probably going to get me in so much trouble, but you wouldn't have asked if it wasn't important."

"I would not have," Thor agreed, seriously. "And I swear to you that I will protect your right to your privacy and your freedom, as I should have from the beginning."

"We were all much younger then," Darcy said wryly, and rather diplomatically, he thought. He returned the smile faintly and she nodded. "Right then. Is your location secure?"

"We are in the place called 'Stark Tower' in the New Land of York," Thor said.

"Manhattan!" shouted a voice from behind him, and Thor recognized the Man of Iron. Darcy chuckled.

"Right. Jane and I will be there in five minutes. You remember how to mark a doorway for me?"

"I do," Thor nodded. "Be well, Darcy, and I will see you soon."

"Back at'cha, Uncle mine," she said fondly, and he felt a surge of joy at her acknowledgement. The image disappeared into a black screen moments later and a throat cleared behind him. Turning, he noticed that his newest shieldbrethren were standing behind him and clearly waiting for an explanation.

"Ah... my niece has agreed to journey here and attempt what she can to repair the damage Loki has wrought," he said, feeling unaccountably abashed and trying not to show it. "Man of Iron, is there a doorway in your tower that you might allow to be inscribed with the runes of travel for her passage?"

 

 **E** XPLAINING TO JANE THAT SHE WAS ACTUALLY A DISGUISED GODDESS IN SELF-IMPOSED EXILE, Darcy knew, would take way longer than five minutes, as would the explanation of how she was going to get them to Manhattan from Norway without at least a boat. With that in mind, Darcy tracked down Jane and, while inscribing the travel runes across the threshold and at all four corners of the door to an unused supply closet with a borrowed piece of chalk, Darcy said simply, "Thor's in Manhattan, get up, we're leaving to meet him."

"Thor?" Yep, nothing pulled Jane out of Science Mode like mentioning Darcy's uncle did. Apparently it couldn't distract her from her best friend slash assistant's odd behavior, because the next thing she said was, "I didn't hear you call for a helicopter.... Darcy, what are you doing?"

"It's complicated," Darcy said, marking the last rune and checking the configuration. "I'll explain after we get to Stark Tower."

"Stark Tower?! Darcy!" Jane exclaimed, pushing back from her chair. Abruptly, she stopped, looking suspiciously at Darcy. "Does this explanation have anything to do with why you were debating quantum tunneling theory with Erik that morning you wouldn't speak anything but Old Norse before you'd had coffee?" Darcy flushed.

"I didn't think you'd noticed that," she mumbled, absently tucking the chalk behind her ear and rubbing her hands on her jeans.

"Didn't think... Darcy, I know I get a little focused sometimes--" Darcy raised an eyebrow, which made Jane roll her eyes. "Yeah, yeah, I know. I'm still not completely blind to my political science major intern fluently speaking a dead language not in her record." She flushed and looked down. "I just... figured you'd tell me when you were ready."

"Jane..." Darcy started, then sighed and shook her head. "I can't say I'd ever be ready, but right now it's kind of an emergency so, not much choice. Just... don't freak, okay? I look kinda weird without the glamour."

"Glamour?" Jane asked, confused, but Darcy was already closing her eyes. She hated this part, having to drop her hard-crafted defenses, exposing herself to the Eyes she loathed, but this was important. Summoning her magic, she whispered the Words, lifting the glamour like a cloak and tucking it away, leaving her standing on Midgard soil wearing her natural form for the first time.

Jane squeaked from behind her, and Darcy grimaced. She knew she looked strange this way, one half of her body as blue as if someone had drawn a line directly down the center of her body and had painted it with wold while the other half stayed milky pink. _The left like unto the Face of Death_ , the old texts from Midgard's myths read, retranslated later to claim she was half corpse, but back when the tales had first been told, the "Face of Death" had been the blue skin and red eyes of the Aesir's Jotun enemies.

"Jane?" Darcy prompted reluctantly. The other woman let out a long breath and stepped closer. Darcy held still at the ghost of a touch near her left cheek, noticeably colder now with her natural form plain to see, but not dangerous.

"So... should I call you Hel?" Jane asked at length. Darcy twitched, glancing at her. Jane smiled a little weakly. "Well, it'd be a bit more freaky if you were half rotting flesh over bones and the red eye's different... wait, is your right eye green now?"

"Same as Mom's," Darcy answered automatically, then wished she could take the words back as Jane sobered. Her friend surprised her, though, laying a hand gently on her shoulder.

"Are you okay?"

"...Yeah," she said, letting out a breath. "Uncle Thor says something's off with Mom, so it might not be his fault that shit went down like it did." She shook herself a little. "Anyway, time's a-wastin'. Ready to go?"

"Can we just... leave like that?" Jane asked, glancing behind her at the room with their equipment and notes.

"We'll come back for it, Jane," Darcy promised, "but the longer we wait the more difficult it might be to do what Uncle Thor asked me to."

She could see the questions brimming behind Jane's eyes, curious and eager to learn. Jane was practical, though, when she wanted to be, and only nodded, stepping directly behind Darcy and putting her hands on her shoulders when Darcy directed her to. Facing the doorway she'd inscribed, Darcy lifted her hands, palms out, and closed her eyes, Reaching as she'd once been taught long ago and waking the Runes. Without looking, she could feel the air shifting, twisting in front of her as the Runes reached out beyond their physical anchors and twisted space and time to connect the doorway with the one Uncle Thor had (hopefully) marked for her.

"--just going to... _whoa_!" she heard someone in front of her say as the air settled and stilled, the energy paths vibrating with the connection. Opening her eyes, she saw a brightly lit room with white walls and marble floors and an array of people she vaguely recognized standing around and staring in shock at her. All save one.

"Darcy! Lady Jane!" Thor exclaimed in delight, opening his arms in welcome and grinning at them. Grinning back helplessly - because her uncle was welcoming her even looking like she did - Darcy stepped forward, pulling Jane with her, and crossed the threshold from Tromso, Norway, into Stark Tower, Manhattan, New York, and was immediately embraced.

"Hey, Uncle Thor," she said happily as she and Jane hugged the taller god back. "We missed you."

 

 **W** ITH SEEMING UNSPOKEN COORDINATION, Thor walked at Darcy's-- _Hela's_ left while Jane stood firm at her friend's right, the two of them bracketing her in unyielding support with the rest of the team arrayed behind them as they walked from the hanger bay through the Helicarrier to the bridge. Hela's natural appearance earned her several second looks, for she still looked recognizably like "Darcy" save her one green eye on the half of her not noticeably Jotun in appearance. Thor glared darkly at anyone who looked at his niece mistrustfully and held his position until they reached the bridge and Nicholas Fury was before them, looking quite composed as he took in the gathering and their additions.

"...Your Majesty," he said at length, surprising Thor by bowing to Hela. "I presume you are here to speak with your--"

"Mother," Hela broke in dryly, lips twitching very slightly. "I would speak with him if you would permit it, but that is not the primary cause for my engaging with your Realm."

"...How may I assist you, your Majesty?" Nicholas asked after a moment, his single eye fixed on Hela with a look that made Thor want to shift protectively in front of his niece. He resisted; Hela could look after herself, even without her portable lightning device.

"My uncle and his team tell me that Philip Coulson has left the mortal Realms," she said, her words formal even as her tone was light. "I have come at their behest to ensure he is returned, body and soul, to complete health. There is a catch, of course."

"You require his body?" Nicholas guessed, but Hela shook her head.

"I require a trade," she said placidly. "One cannot return a soul once taken without offering another in that soul's place."

"You didn't mention--" Captain Rogers exclaimed before someone - perhaps the Lady Widow - clapped a hand over his mouth to still his outburst. Thor controlled his expression, for it would do no good to smile as gleefully as he wished at this juncture.

"Of course," Nicholas said, nodding. "And so will you have it. Agent Coulson has been my one good eye for many years; my soul for his is small enough repayment to him." Hela stilled. Thor fought the urge to beam.

"You offer your soul to me freely and without reserve?" she said, staring at him intently even as she held out one hand to the dark-skinned man. Thor was smug to see that Nicholas stared back equally intently as he placed his hand in hers.

"I do," he said. Someone behind them choked back a laugh.

"Then I accept your soul as mine," Hela intoned, curling her fingers around his.

"So witnessed here, by Thor Odinson and by the Avengers, Midgard's Mightiest Heroes," Thor rumbled, saluting with Mjolnir. Nicholas blinked at him - it was difficult to tell with the one eye, but Thor was well practiced from having watched his father for centuries - and Thor smiled widely. "Welcome to the family, nephew!"

"But... what about Coulson?" Captain Rogers asked uncertainly. Thor heard the man called Hawkeye chuckle even as the Man of Iron laughed outright.

"Phil's alive," the Lady Widow said, and Thor fancied he could hear a smile in her voice. "Lady Hela must have known the moment she stepped through the portal."

"Then why did she take Director Fury's soul?" Rogers asked, bewildered. "You aren't about to drop dead, are you, sir?"

"I hope not," Nicholas drawled, raising an eyebrow at his new wife.

"Not on my watch," Hela said archly. Glancing behind her, she added, "All I did was accept his pledge that when he dies, his soul comes straight to my Realm, do not pass Go, _do_ collect an eternity with his wife."

"Wife?" Rogers asked faintly.

"Hell yeah," the Man of Iron said, laughing. "No pun intended. We just attended the wedding of Nick Fury to the Ruler of the Underworld!"

"And if it's all the same to you," Nicholas said dryly, "I'd like to have a few moments alone with my wife. Coulson is in the medical wing and...?" He glanced at Hela, who nodded.

"Completely healed," she assured him. "Not that there was all that much to heal. The wound missed most of his vital organs."

"So go visit him," Nicholas commanded, waving his hand towards them all. "Hill, you have the con."

"A word, Nicholas," Thor said, taking care to speak softly. "Should my niece come to harm in this Realm, I will hold you personally responsible."

"Understood," Nicholas said gravely, glancing at Hela. "Nice look."

"Au naturale," Hela said with a half shrug, before smirking deviously. "Wanna get a closer look?"

Taking a look at his niece's expression, almost eerily similar to her mother's when Loki would plot the most entertaining of mischief, Thor decided now would be an excellent time to go with his shieldbrethren and his Lady Jane to visit the esteemed Son of Coul.

**Author's Note:**

> This took me a month to write out. Maybe more. Lost track of time. Happy New Year!


End file.
